Why do all new Ontario 499’s have the 3/11 date on the pommel? Like the two I’ve got recently both had stickers on the box of 2/2022 and 4/2022 but they have 3/11 dates on the pommel. The first one I had to return because it had a damaged sheath and the thin metal backing was crunched up and separating from the leather. Both had issues of the rivets absolutely destroying the finish on the blade. IMO that is a huge oversight and should be completely unacceptable. And it seems like that is the newest date for any 499’s why? Did they make millions of them in march of 2011? I don’t buy it. Also I’m so pissed about the horrible sheath design with the rivets that scratch the hell out of the blade. I wanted a nice fixed blade and it was between the 498 and the 499 and I wish I had gotten the 498.
Ontario 499 questions
- Thread starter Dano1987
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Dan Maragni
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Sorry about the delay in responding to this post.
The 3/11 date on the pommels of the 499 was specified by the government contract which we cannot alter. The problems with the sheath are unacceptable and as our warranty states it is Ontario's responsibility for any manufacturing defects and you were correct in sending it back for a replacement. The sheath quality problems have been addressed and we have also included a patch on the back of the snap rivet to prevent it from scratching the blade. We are very sorry you had such a bad experience with your 499 and are constantly striving to improve our products. Thank you for your input.
The 3/11 date on the pommels of the 499 was specified by the government contract which we cannot alter. The problems with the sheath are unacceptable and as our warranty states it is Ontario's responsibility for any manufacturing defects and you were correct in sending it back for a replacement. The sheath quality problems have been addressed and we have also included a patch on the back of the snap rivet to prevent it from scratching the blade. We are very sorry you had such a bad experience with your 499 and are constantly striving to improve our products. Thank you for your input.
Alone
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First off, I wanted to post that I hope I'm not breaking the Community norms of trying not to bump a "necro" thread. For me, this thread is not "that old" and was still on the first page in this subforum. If I am indeed doing that, the Mods should delete this post/inquiry with my apologies. Being that this thread was on the first page, and is relevant to my question, I thought I'd just post here rather than creating a whole new thread just to ask a single question. Secondly, and beyond the above, I hope the OP doesn't mind me hijacking his thread a bit. Again, I think my question is relevant to the conversation and may be of interest to him and/or others.
I have a 499 that was given to me. It has the "Ontario 3-11" marking on the pommel. However, unless my memory is completely wrong (*which is quite possible), I seriously believe that this knife was given to me a few years before 2011. Anyhow, my question is this...
What year did Ontario begin marking the pommel with "3-11"?
Common sense dictates that this "contract" stipulation would have been for any 499 made after "March, 2011". However, as I posted above, I seem to remember that this knife was given to me a few years earlier. Again, I'm going by memory here, but am still very curious.
Thanks in advance.
Dan Maragni
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I contacted Ontario again and they confirmed that the 3-11 marking on the pommel was the date of the last government design revision on the 499. From the information I have received it is unlikely that there were knives made with the 3-11 marking prior to 3-11.
Alone
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Thanks so much for the clarification.
As I posted, I was going from memory, which is probably not the sharpest nowadays.